And did you notice that the "volume " of the seat changes in MICRONs and the "volume" of the head changed in MM squared...

Actually it is a linear shrikage in each, with the hardened seats shrinking (in all dimensions) and the heated aluminum head expanding. Not an unusual practice when installing valve seats in any engine head, same process is used in cast iron heads also.

Mike: (Formerly Mike Hailwood in another life?) You're paraphrasing. It was John Pierp;oint Morgan resp;onding to a query about the upkeep cost of a yacht. And a Rolls Royce is actually cheaper than the greater lot of super cars.

If memory serves well, the Testa Rosa was a four banger Ferrari sports car from the early fifties. The V8s are flat crank and shakers. That's the reason the four pipes on that bank in the illustration are joined instead of splitting and crossing over. There is no two-plane beat, either. You have to run a lot of pipes to get the same inline eight sound from a two-plane crank.

Wonderful thing about rings, such as a valve seat. They expand and contract circumferentially as well which makes such details easier to slip into an interference fit whether the the detail is heated or cooled depending on the application. A long rod will gain or lose more in length than a cube of the same volume.

Good day Allezw, The real mike Hailwood was a hero of mine and I followed him from the late, early 60's until his untimely death, but I also ride a Ducati and a H-D V Rod so I don't feel too bad about using the "name" . The Rolls-Royce phrase I used, was created long before "super cars" were born, it comes from the early days of Rolls-Royce, when they were quite likely the most expensive cars on the planet. You might say the Silver Ghost was a super car of it's time. Here's another "Rolls-Royce" story you might like. Have you ever heard of the Brough Superior Motor Cycle, well Brough used the term "The Rolls-Royce of Motor Cycles". Henry Royce (the engineer) sent a R-R person to inspect the bikes. Shortly after, R-R issued a statement, that they were happy for Brough to use the term. Can you imagine that now in the PC age, I can't. I think you missed the point of my reply really, I wanted to correct the misleading caption of the F1 engine.

Perhaps I might have made the distinction more precise had I said the "FIRST" Testa Rossa was a four banger. It began as a two liter and expanded to over three liters before being superseded by the Dino v6. The later V12s automobiles, curiously, were Testarossas. Note the difference in the names.

T.E. Lawrence wrote a stirring description of his bike also telling of the hand pump used to lubricate engine parts for the constant loss system. Interestingly, AMC, the company manufacturing the AJS, Sunbeam, and Matchless motorcycles, built the Brough-Superior V2 on a special line. They used the fork and blade connecting rod arrangement to avoid cylinder offset, among other detail differences from the AMC twins also used for the later Morgan trikes.

At the time of the Brough-Superior, before Lawrence put it forever into the history books, all motorcycles were hand built with specialists for each component and often a single worker responsible for the final assembly before it was tested and then sent on to the dealer or directly to the owner.

I believe Velocette was the last major manufacturer to retain that tradition.

Your bit on the F1 engine was clear enough. The tipoff for me was the exhaust pipes.

I started on Cushman scooters delivering papers. They ranged from single speed with the centrifigal clutch to the two-speed with the oversize tires. Had a '37 Indian Chief, a '47 Harley 'Glide, a '48 Harley Hummer, a '49 Indian Brave, the little Brit-style 440cc twin, a'51 AJS 500 single, a 53 Matchless 500 single, a '56 Matchless 650cc, '61 Matchless G50. The last remaining is a '63 CB77 Honda, still in the stable. Looking at a new India manufactured Royal Enfield. My 1959 Berkley used the 700cc twin, up from the Villiers triple two-stroke.

Allezw, I think you are thinking about another brand of car. As far as I can tell the first Ferrari's were V12s. The Dino was the first V6 (starting out at 2L), which was later enlarged to a 3L V8. This is the genesis of their current mid-engine line.

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